Monday, July 24, 2017

Last week, I was by myself in Vermont, trying to make progress on the new book I'm writing. I had no cell or Internet access, except when I drove into town, which I didn't do very often. Here's a view of the meadow I could see as I wrote.

One day, I drove into town and called Kevin, just to check in. I had a long list of questions for him, and things to report to him. He waited patiently. Then, when I finally stopped for a breath, he said, "So, they announced that Peter Capaldi is leaving Doctor Who."

"Oh?" I said, wondering who they'd chosen to replace him this time. A young white man? An old white man? If they were really feeling like stretching themselves, maybe a Scottish white man? (For those of you who don't watch Doctor Who, it's a sci-fi show with a famously gendered power dynamic that has always bothered me. The doctor regenerates into a new body every few years, twelve Doctors so far, and he is always a white man; he's old, he's extraordinarily powerful, he's brilliant, he's a genius, he's a tortured hero – and he has a young, innocent, naïve, pretty companion who is almost always a woman. I love this show, but, ICK.)

"Did they say who's replacing him?" I asked.

Kevin said, "Yes. It's a woman."

!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I'm not a person who yells very often. But I yelled "WHAT??!!" so loudly that I hurt my own ears. Then I yelled it again.

"I thought you might have some feelings about that," Kevin said, sounding so happy. Then he told me he'd been hoping that once I got into cell phone range, I wouldn't start checking all my emails and texts until I'd talked to him, because he wanted to be the one to tell me about it. No one has endured my furious rants about Doctor Who more patiently than Kevin, so I'm glad it was him :).

I've been having a lot of thoughts and feelings recently about movies and TV… Because I see some things changing. A lot of things aren't changing – but some things really are changing. I want to write a blog post about Wonder Woman when I have a minute; there's so much in that movie that upholds sexist stereotypes, and SO MUCH that challenges them. And I feel like I can say that about so many movies and TV shows recently. Orphan Black. The Force Awakens. Rogue One. 10 Cloverfield Lane. Arrival. Ex Machina. Jessica Jones. And don't forget that it was only a few years ago that Friday Night Lights showed us that a TV show about high school football players in Texas is actually a TV show about awesome women.

Quick Links

"Then, at last, sitting on her stretcher-bed, she took from the very bottom of her pack an old peacock-blue scarf folded around a heavy, square book. She unwrapped it and opened it very carefully, as if guilty secrets might fall from between its pages like pressed flowers. This was Harry's secret. She was a writer."

-from The Tricksters, by Margaret Mahy

Writing is my secret. Every day I unwrap and open it as carefully as I can. Welcome to my blog about writing and life! Above you'll find quick links about me and my books, and below is more about me, ways to subscribe, and an archive of past posts. Click here to go home to my most recent posts.

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About the Author

Kristin Cashore wrote the New York Times bestsellers Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue, all of which have been named ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Her next book, Jane, Unlimited, comes out in September 2017. Graceling is the winner of the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature and Fire is the winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. The books are world travelers, currently scheduled to be published in thirty-four languages.

Finally, a note: This blog is my only online presence. I am not on Facebook, Google+, or any other social media sites, and I use Twitter solely as an amalgamation feed for my blog. Sorry, but I do not read @-replies on Twitter!